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charm
Unknown
Museum of Ethnography
Stockholm, Sweden
War sign or Charm from the Admiralty Islands, with 23 trimmed frigate bird feathers.
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Details
- Title: charm
- Creator: Unknown
- Location Created: Papua Nya Guinea, Amiralitetsöarna
- Physical Dimensions: 52 cm, 10 cm, 12 cm
- External Link: Link to source
- Text till utställningen Avian Allies: This charm comprises a small wooden carved human face that has a base of long black feathers attached to it. The face has been painted using red pigment or ochre while dark brown pigment has been used to highlight the eyes and mouth, as well as some painted lines along the cheek, jawline and edge of the face. The stylized human face of this war charm also features carved representations of earlobe extension once practiced by Admiralty Islands men. A perforation running through the top of the figures had has a piece of cloth (trade cloth?) running through it. The ornament includes twenty-six trimmed frigate bird wing feathers. The long black feathers have been secured into the conical base of the wooden face using resin or clay and fibre binding, possibly rattan. The shafts of the feathers have been cut into a zig-zag pattern with only the ends being left untouched. Additionally, a string of red glass trade beads has been attached to one edge of the charm, strung on red fibrous material. Alternatively called a charm or a war sign, these were worn to protect men and give them strength in warfare and when visiting neighbouring groups. The charm was believed to render the wearer invulnerable to enemies. It was securely tied around the neck with cord and worn so the carved face looked upwards and the feathers flared horizontally away from the body. The gentle curve of the top of the figures head was most likely carved in this was to as to render it more comfortable for the wearer. It is thought that the form of the charm represented here, with a wooden face, or in some cases a full figure, developed during the nineteenth century and was a progression of an earlier style of charm. Also worn around the neck, these earlier forms comprised leg or arm bones bound with fibre and trimmed feathers. The bones could be either those of an ancestor or an enemy and the charm functioned in the same way as the later wooden example. While the functional need for these objects ceased in the early twentieth century with the cessation of warfare, these objects continue to be made and worn today as part of dance costumes.
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